Sajid Javid the grim reaper.

In a cowardly capitulation to the "hang-em and flog-em" brigade on the Tory back benches, Sajid Javid has argued that the killing of "non-British" citizens is no concern of the British government. The jihadis have simply been deprived of their British citizenship to enable the government to effectively re-introduce the death penalty. The decision was revealed without parliamentary debate and only through a leak.

The fake argument has been used that  Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh should not be allowed to "walk free". In point of fact "walking free" and the death penalty are not the only options. Sajid Javid is well aware of this. He does not stop his supporters from saying it though.

Anyone can be deprived of British citizenship and condemned to death under this new policy. It could be you. It could be me.

The Tory right are rubbing their hands with glee. The Sun is calling for blood and more blood. This is a shameful attempt to divert attention from a government which is falling apart at the seams. Sajid Javid should not be allowed to get away with it.

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Domain of Dreams

“Domain of Dreams” is a book of short stories. It has something for everyone – adventure, romance, mystery and humour. Science says we cannot travel in time but in dreams and reveries, we can go to any place and time. The Domain of Dreams is the realm of your imagination. There are no limits.

Books are expensive and I am keen for readers to get Domain of Dreams from libraries for free. The ISBN is 978-1539351900 .

Educational Resources linked to Domain of Dreams are available free from the Times Educational Supplement on their website.

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/domain-of-dreams-worksheet-1-11448747

Teaching about the Internet - free worksheets

I gave up teaching definitely, definitively and never to return six years ago. Ahem. Well, I am now teaching people who are older than I am if you can believe that. Guildcare is a wonderful local charity in Worthing and I am pleased to be a volunteer with them.
It costs nothing to download the worksheets I am using from the TES website.

TES Worksheets

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Who Is America? (2018) | First Look | Sacha Baron Cohen SHOWTIME Series

Sacha Baron Cohen gets NRA and right Republicans to advocate arming three year olds. No wonder Palin said he was "evil".

For Sacha Baron Cohen to say these things is just a comic being outrageous. For the lawmakers of America to say these things makes you wonder if they are safe to have in power.




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Flash fiction online

https://101words.org/tables-turned/

https://everydayfiction.com/the-vicars-laptop-by-derek-mcmillan/

https://everydayfiction.com/laughing-larry-by-derek-mcmillan/




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Pride report

We attended Worthing Pride with the National Education Union. We were right behind the Unison LGBT group. There were people from a variety of political parties and of none. The West Sussex fire brigade provided three fire engines which were a spectacular addition to the parade.

We were marching to the beat of the Celebration Samba Band. I am very pleased so many people turned out including the police and the scouts.


No event in Worthing would be complete without the town crier, Bob Smytherman and he was there in full voice with his bell.


It is a coincidence that the Commander in Chief was visiting the UK at the same time but it is one in the eye for his prejudiced attitudes. If Pride has reached a traditional Conservative stronghold like Worthing it denotes a sea change in attitudes and it shows how homophobia is widely opposed in the UK.

There was a drone overhead and we assumed it was being used to take photos for local media. The couple from "Inspired by the Sea" were taking photos and a good percentage of the marchers had their mobile phones out too to record the event.

The parade was a lovely colourful, good-natured event and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

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#worthingflash

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Boris "buggeration" Johnson.

The Foreign Secretary who knew as much about Africa as he did about Merseyside: he won't be missed. 

Johnson has defended the history of colonialism, saying that it would be best if African countries were still colonised, and has also used language to describe black people which many consider racist - for which he has apologised. 

He accused Liverpool of wallowing in "victim status" over the murder of Ken Bigley and the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster.

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Data Protection Act fraud

The Data Protection Act 2018 is heralded as implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The GDPR supposedly prevents organisations from charging for a subject access inquiry. In other words if they have information about you they have to hand it over and not charge you an arm and a leg to look at it. This means that inaccurate information can be corrected. For example if someone is refused a loan because they are listed as being bankrupt they can challenge the information. (based on a real case)

In fact the weasel words of the Data Protection Act are as follows

Requests for information are usually free. However, organisations can charge an administrative cost in some circumstances, for example if:

• you’re asking for a large amount of information
• your request will take a lot of time and effort to process
  
  
  For example the police response to a subject access inquiry in the past was that they held data under 16 different headings and they could charge ten pounds for each heading. Most people would choose not to have the information! 

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#worthingflash Writers of the world unite!

The breakdown by country of visitors to the #worthingflash site is as follows: United Kingdom 525

Ireland 56

United States 43

Germany 14

Peru 11

Turkey 7

Philippines 6

France 5

Malta 5

United Arab Emirates 4 I don't have an issue with people outside Worthing sending in flash fiction. I remember being rather annoyed at an Australian site which rejected my work not on merit but because I am not Australian. Writers of the World unite!

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Pot Pourri

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077WCH2PQ Pot Pourri, a collection of short stories. Free from Amazon for five days. Free to borrow from the library any day. #potpourri

For the benefit of everyone I haven't told already, the title is to annoy the DUP who always shout "No Pot Pourri" at their rallies. 

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https://worthingflash.blogspot.com is now live

https://worthingflash.blogspot.com/2018/07/modern-times.html Can you do better? Of course you can. Then post your flash fiction to worthingflash@gmail.com and the best will appear on the blog. Flash fiction welcome from pupils, teachers, pensioners and anyone else for that matter. I won't reject your work if you are not from Worthing because that would be ridiculous. Writers of the World unite.

A story about modern times

The website that asked too many questions

I teach a course for people who are older than I am (66+) on IT safety so I thought a website called http://www.learnmyway.com with a free course on staying safe online might be useful. Trying the site out, however, I found it did the very thing I warn my students about. It asked for information including name, address and email address These are quite unnecessary for websites offering a free service. I strongly advise students against giving any such information unless they want to have their email inbox flooded with advertising rubbish.

Many a time people have fallen for pubs and hotels which demand email addresses for internet access. Once they have done that they bombard the hapless victim with special offers and rubbish. These days the emails have a tiny tiny "unsubscribe" at the bottom which most of my students simply cannot see.

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